Hundreds of guests gathered in Louisville, Kentucky last night to celebrate Muhammad Ali’s 70th birthday with the boxing champion.
About 350 people gathered at the Muhammad Ali Centre in his hometown, clapping and singing along as rock singer John Mellencamp entertained the crowd.
These days the eyes of Ali, once so sparkling and mischievous, are invariably hidden behind sunglasses. The body is frail, the gait uncertain, a walking frame or the arm of an aide often required.
Yet more than 30 years since Ali hung up his gloves after losing his last fight against Trevor Berbick at the age of 39 years and 328 days, following a career forged amid a golden generation of boxing heavyweights, he remains the greatest sportsman who ever lived.
His great fights included such as ‘The Rumble in the Jungle’ against George Foreman and the ‘Thrilla in Manilla’ against Joe Frazier, whose funeral Ali attended in November.
There were moments of great courage, too, such as the lighting of the Olympic flame at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta when Ali, ravaged by the effects of the Parkinson’s disease he has endured for 28 years, gave the world’s greatest sporting festival an iconic image.
Al’s career is a reminder of how far sport can take those determined to ride their natural gifts, in Ali’s case hand and foot speed which saw him win the Olympic heavyweight gold medal in Rome in 1960 before turning professional.
In a boxing world which currently lacks credibility, with its plethora of title organisations and its myriad of weight divisions, it is difficult to convey the kudos the world heavyweight title bestowed back in Ali’s day.
Suffice to say that he was, almost certainly, the most famous individual on the planet.
“If you even dream of beating me you’d better wake up and apologise,” he famously warned one opponent.
Some say Joe Louis was the best heavyweight boxer the world has ever seen and perhaps technically he does just eclipse the boy who was born Cassius Marcellus Clay on January 17th, 1942.
But in terms of greatness there is no contest. Ali transcended sport. He proved greatness is not solely to do with what happens inside the ring or on the athletics track or on the football field.
In all he held the heavyweight title three times, winning 22 world title fights and losing three, including his ill-advised brutal encounter with former sparring partner Larry Holmes when he was already in the midst of physical decline and sporting a bloated body and wandering mind.
Some would say that is nothing unique and that Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis have also held the world title three times.
That, however, would be to miss the unique energy and humility of Ali, a man whose boastful ‘I’m the king of the world’ catchphrases were always tinged with an endearing dash of self-mockery.
Only Pele and Tiger Woods, prior to his self-destruction, come near to emulating Ali’s universal sporting appeal, men who when they play, hold the world in awe.
Some might say Carl Lewis, Jack Nicklaus, Don Bradman, Bjorn Borg and maybe even Babe Ruth, the greatest player in baseball history, deserve their place in that debate.
But, when all is duly considered, one man is way out in front. The man who “floated like a butterfly and stung like a bee”. It is no longer possible to know what truly goes on behind those sunglasses.
But the memories remain. And for that all sports lovers should raise a 70th birthday toast. Muhammad Ali, still the greatest.